Page 48 - JSOM Fall 2023

TABLE 1 Participant Characteristics TABLE 2 Rotated Factor Matrix
Characteristic n (%) M ± SD Range Scale Item
Group (abbreviated description) R AEC GSV ID A
EOD accession 77 (47.0) Use relaxation techniques 0.83
during training
TTC student 24 (14.6) Prior to/during training,
EOD technician 63 (38.4) practice methods to calm 0.72
Gender myself or “psych down”
Male 159 (96.4) Prior to/during training,
Female 3 (1.8) practice calming myself 0.70
or “psyching down”
Missing 2 (1.2)
Practice a way to relax prior to
Race and ethnicity the start of training evolutions 0.69
American Indian* 0 (0) Prepare for training evolutions
Asian/Pacific Islander 12 (7.3) by relaxing 0.69
Black 2 (1.2) Have trouble staying focused 0.76
Hispanic 2 (1.2) during training evolutions
White 132 (80.5) Able to control distracting 0.66
thoughts during training
More than 1 race and/or 15 (9.1) evolutions
ethnicity † Attention wanders during
Missing 1 (0.6) training evolutions 0.66
Age 25.9 ± 4.7 18–43 When distracted, refocus
Missing 3 (1.8) attention during training 0.57
Military experience (years) 3.4 ± 3.9 0–18 When things are going poorly
Missing 3 (1.8) during training, keep my 0.50
composure
EOD warfare specialist qualification Set very specific goals for
Basic 56 (34.1) training evolutions 0.65
Senior 27 (16.5) I don’t set goals for training
Master 12 (7.3) evolutions 0.59
Missing 69 (42.1) During training, I visualize my
performance as realistically as 0.72
Anxiety symptoms 4.0 ± 4.2 0–20
possible
Depressive symptoms 3.3 ± 3.9 0–23
During training, I visualize
Posttraumatic stress successful past performance 0.52
symptoms 7.7 ± 12.0 0–66 Talk to myself to help my drill
Perceived stress 9.8 ± 6.7 0–31 performance 0.90
*Two participants identified as American Indian, but both also se- Utilize internal dialogue during
lected another race and/or ethnicity. training (0.36) 0.50
† Indicates self-report of more than one race and/or ethnicity. While executing emergency
CEODD = Center for EOD and Diving; EOD = Explosive Ordnance procedures during training,
Disposal; M = mean; SD = standard deviation; TTC = Tactical Train- thoughts and skills flow (0.39) 0.69
ing Course. naturally
setting-visualization (4 items), internal dialogue (2 items), and While executing emergency
procedures during training,
automaticity (3 items). The most frequently endorsed strate- mastery enables fluid critical 0.63
gies were goal setting-visualization and internal dialogue. The thinking
five-factor solution accounted for 65% of variance in the total While executing emergency
latent construct. procedures during training,
allow whole skill to happen 0.57
Relationships between CMS-T subscales and mental health naturally
symptoms are shown in Table 4. As presented, four of the five Values in parentheses indicate that a candidate item did not meet re-
subscales related to perceived stress. Robust associations also tention criterion of >0.5.
prevailed between attentional-emotional control and each A = automaticity; AEC = attentional-emotional control; GSV = goal
setting-visualization; ID = internal dialogue; R = relaxation.
mental health variable.
officers did, F(1, 138) = 5.5, p < .05, η ² = .04, 1–β = .64. In
p
Group differences in psychological strategy use are outlined unadjusted models, basic EOD technicians endorsed more fre-
in Table 5. In an unadjusted model, EOD accessions reported quent use of relaxation, F(1, 66) = 11.6, p = .001, η ² = .15,
p
more frequent use of relaxation strategies compared with 1–β = .92, and internal dialogue compared with master EOD
EOD technicians, F(1, 131) = 16.7, p < .001, η ² = .11, 1–β = technicians, F(1, 66) = 10.9, p < .01, η ² = .14, 1–β = .90.
p
p
.98. Adjusted for military tenure, this model maintained sta- Adjusted for military tenure, both models were considerably
tistical significance (p < .05) despite substantial loss of power underpowered (1–β = .14 and .36, respectively) and lost statis-
(1–β = .51). Conversely, EOD technicians tended to endorse tical significance (p > .05).
more frequent automaticity compared with EOD accessions,
F(1, 117) = 3.7, p = .057, η ² = .03, 1–β = .48. Enlisted per- The EOD CMS-T scale and scoring guide are included in the
p
sonnel reported more frequent use of relaxation strategies than Supplemental.
46 | JSOM Volume 22, Edition 3 / Fall 2023